Should we require e-mail introductions to join the forum?

This topic has the quality "Global Announcement" which means it will appear in all forums.

I would like to hear from both sides - who thinks the forum should require e-mail introductions to the admins, and who thinks the forum should remain open for anyone to register and begin posting? (Simon has closed registration for the time being, but this is to determine whether we should re-open it, and why).

Personally, I could go either way, but I am leaning toward more openness. My best argument against that right now is that we don't have a lot of time to go on constantly deleting the shills, nuts and trolls. It's like an endless hellish game of "Galaxian".

Are the merchandise advert planters flesh and blood people that register in order to spam? Could it be a perp tactic to overrun the forum with useless noise? If they are bots, perhaps some captcha credentialing could qualify real visitors.

As far as bona fide trolls go, I think seeing both sides of an argument can be beneficial in some cases, as we have to overcome these arguments in the analog world anyway. Sometimes, seeing those arguments refuted can be helpful. September Clues has an especially gentle touch when nurturing those that show the least bit of interest. And no one minds unceremonious ejection of the rude and deliberately offensive. It may be a disservice to set the bar so high that it discourages newcomers. Maybe install a lurking requirement, with a page view counter and timer? Of course they could be watching TV while the minutes were logging ....

Farcevalue wrote:Are the merchandise advert planters flesh and blood people that register in order to spam? Could it be a perp tactic to overrun the forum with useless noise? If they are bots, perhaps some captcha credentialing could qualify real visitors.

As fa as bona fide trolls go, I think seeing both sides of an argument can be beneficial in some cases, as we have to overcome these arguments in the analog world anyway. Sometimes, seeing those arguments refuted can be helpful. September Clues has an especially gentle touch when nurturing those that show the least bit of interest. And no one minds unceremonious ejection of the rude and deliberately offensive. It may be a disservice to set the bar so high that it discourages newcomers. Maybe install a lurking requirement, with a page view counter and timer? Of course they could be watching TV while the minutes were logging ....

That's odd. I thought this topic was "locked" by someone. Last time I checked the admin panel, the only moderators we had were:

Farcevalue wrote:Are the merchandise advert planters flesh and blood people that register in order to spam? Could it be a perp tactic to overrun the forum with useless noise? If they are bots, perhaps some captcha credentialing could qualify real visitors.

As fa as bona fide trolls go, I think seeing both sides of an argument can be beneficial in some cases, as we have to overcome these arguments in the analog world anyway. Sometimes, seeing those arguments refuted can be helpful. September Clues has an especially gentle touch when nurturing those that show the least bit of interest. And no one minds unceremonious ejection of the rude and deliberately offensive. It may be a disservice to set the bar so high that it discourages newcomers. Maybe install a lurking requirement, with a page view counter and timer? Of course they could be watching TV while the minutes were logging ....

That's odd. I thought this topic was "locked" by someone. Last time I checked the admin panel, the only moderators we had were:

brianv wrote:you can enter the thread directly. How did I post here? I'm not a mod or admin!

Me, either, and at this time don't want to be.

Brian - I pondered our exchange from last night about closing the forum. I decided (contrary to what you likely may be thinking) that you were absolutely right about closing the forum to instant membership. My analytical problem with that seemingly-harsh solution, from the very beginning, was that it made the few new members who might help the forum's research decide just to move on with their lives. (For example, I don't want to see reichstag go. He's certainly helped me a lot.)

The 'middle ground' of forcing potential members to email Simon their short bio puts up an immediate hurdle, which should get rid of bots and unpaid morons very quickly. We can then more easily deal with paid bad actors.

I also decided you've been right all along on a wider array of admin 'probs', and I should have listened to you from the start. Face it, I've agreed with everything you've said for 3 years about psyops and fakery - why wouldn't I think you also right on these matters?

Brian, I apologize wholeheartedly and without reservation. I'm sorry. (By the way, I immediately voted Yes when I saw the question. I didn't even stop to read the thread.)

Admins - now to a few matters for your attention.

1. Have the Admins consider asking for additional administrative help? Without knowing anything as to why Nonho and Maat have both 'gone on leave' for such a long period, it might be the case that one of them would gladly choose to resign his current admin duties, so as to better focus on other life responsibilities.

Merely adding a 5th Admin could easily produce too many 'chefs in the kitchen', so to speak - especially if two of them are now gone for an indefinite time.

3. I think it very important to leave this thread open for a few days. Getting cogent thoughts from most of our credible members seems - to me at least - important for the forum's continued credibility. Further, I think it critically important that both Nonho and Maat post their thoughts here before the thread is closed. Any decision taken without their public comment might easily strike many readers, and especially them, as having been done 'behind their backs'. Not a good result for us, with respect to our public, or internal credibility (such as it is).

If Simon or Hoi has not yet sent each an email, now might be a good time to do so.

As for voting, I have refrained thus far, I'm not entirely au-fait with democratic principles. Instant membership may be fine for the likes of fuckface.com and other such egotistical "look at me" type sites. I always had thought we were primarily a research forum. For instance - wobbly fade - when I discovered letsroll many years ago after having searched the web from day one for likeminded individuals, I still spent weeks reviewing the posts there before I actually joined, until I felt as though I could contribute something. It wasn't a knee-jerk reaction, being outraged by a single post or the opposite, I didnt join to kiss Phil's ass, as you would see by the exchanges when I joined and proposed "fake"...and went on to prove it, I think.

What would I have done if "instant membership" wasn't presented to me? That the only way to join the foum was by emailing the site owner? Would it have put me off? I dont think so!

I'm most definitely a "They Live" kind of bloke. My gmail account is set to html only, you dont get advertising spam. I have trained myself not to look at billboards as I'm driving, I dont watch TV nor listen to any commercial radio. I dont buy or read newspapers, I dont not accept junk-mail at my house, and anyone I catch gets an earful. Usually combined with the threat of a writ for tresspass if I catch them again! I live a clutter/noise free life and it irks me somewhat when my favourite website, my homepage in fact, is littered with junk by the brain-dead bastards out there with nothing else to do!

Exactly, Brian - common sense should prevail here - but we are still faced with this tricky quandary: are we to allow free access to the forum (in the name of "free speech" - and to prevent this forum being labeled "a closed circle of like-minded people") or should we do something to filter out the many trolls and clowns who, quite evidently, register here with the intent of disrupting and sabotaging our discussions? It's not quite such an easy decision as it may seem to be.

For now, I propose to experiment with a format of e-mail introductions to yours truly. After all, this forum is nothing more than a (publicly extended) blog of mine, which has grown into a wonderful, international meeting of minds over the years - thanks to a bunch of solid, no-nonsense contributors such as yourself. It has all grown beyond my wildest expectations, ever since Hoi Polloi and I figured that we needed to set up our very own forum to diffuse and discuss the September Clues findings.

So once again, here's my personal e-mail addy - for people wishing to introduce themselves with a view of joining Cluesforum:

The overall depth and authentic "feel" of the introduction - will be the meter with which I willl gauge the opportunity and necessity for any new members to join this forum. I know this may sound a bit pretentious and fanciful - as if I have some kind of 'magic wand' to separate the wheat from the chaff. But as I feel to be sometimes overwhelmed (just as other forum members do) with wagons of trolls and spammers, I simply must implement some rigid yet righteous rules to reduce the burden of aggravation that this continuous flow of trolls, spammers and clowns foists upon us all.

Half joking, here: maybe an online Diplock Court could judge the righteousness and sincerity of newcomers! A court with judge and jury deliberating behind a thick curtain. A court that passes down judgment on suitability for forum membership in total anonymity!

Well thank you, I guess! Not sure how I helped you though, Fred! Ever fearful that I bring much more confusion than consensus! Though I'm very grateful for the early day de-programming by this forum. If you recall, I was another one who traipsed in with foul dirtiness on the 7/7 PSYOP. Ensnared on propaganda laid for the unwary by the British Israel Movement, a.k.a. Muad'Dib a.k.a. John Hill - the titular head of the operation behind The Ripple Effect video. And very chivalrously, the forum unravelled me without chastisement! So perhaps that's something to consider: we can all fall victim to groupthink, but that doesn't make us shills. To a greater or lesser degree, we're all just victims of propaganda.

brianv wrote:I'm most definitely a "They Live" kind of bloke. My gmail account is set to html only, you dont get advertising spam. I have trained myself not to look at billboards as I'm driving, I dont watch TV nor listen to any commercial radio. I dont buy or read newspapers, I dont not accept junk-mail at my house, and anyone I catch gets an earful.

A man after my own heart. Except it means we're always playing catch-up with the PSYOPs! What was it Mark Twain said? "“If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed"! It was only because someone phoned me on 9/11 that I learned about the Hoax, via their garbled message about "ten thousand dead"!

Merely adding a 5th Admin could easily produce too many 'chefs in the kitchen', so to speak - especially if two of them are now gone for an indefinite time.

Case in point - Simon, who unlocked this thread? You, I hope.

I didn't lock the thread and I didn't unlock it, yet despite all the unlocking/locking, brianv and Farcevalue posted in the thread while it was locked. Can you please explain what happened?

If I were being optimistic I would say: the thread was accidentally locked on creation, some users have privileges set to be able to post in locked threads OR global posts are somehow not locked, and then you came along and unlocked it.

Can you confirm for me this is what's happened? I doubt nonhocapito or Maat stumbled on it and messed with it for no reason in the last 12 hours.

If not, we may have worse security problems than a CAPTCHA-less registration. We may be very easily hacked and start to see weird stuff like we were seeing on Reality Shack.

hoi.polloi wrote:Case in point - Simon, who unlocked this thread? You, I hope.

(...)

If not, we may have worse security problems than a CAPTCHA-less registration. We may be very easily hacked and start to see weird stuff like we were seeing on Reality Shack.

No - I never unlocked /or locked it, Hoi. However, I just 're-locked' it now (even though it appeared to be locked), and the message I got was the usual "Are you sure you want to lock this topic?" So I dunno, let's hope it was just a random glitch in the system.

Can some non-admin please try and post here now - to see if it's properly locked? If it is, please leave a message in the "CHATBOX", thanks!